Clinical Associate Professor; Co-Director Wisconsin Innocence Project
E-mail: bclichstein@wisc.edu
Telephone: (608)265-2741
Office: Room 4318E, Law School
Education:
B.A. Psychology- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
J.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Recently Taught Courses
725 Introduction to Criminal Procedure
854 Clinical Program: Crim. Appeals Project
854 Clinical Program: Wisconsin Innocence Project
854 Clinical Program: Criminal Appeals Project
854 Clinical Program: Innocence Project
854 Clinical Program: Wisconsin Innocence Project
860 Adv. Criminal Procedure: Rep. Criminal Apellant
862 Legal Assistance to Institutionalized Persons (LAIP)
915 SP Crim. J. Admin.: Wrongful Convictions
945 Law & Correctional Institutions
Biography
Byron Lichstein is a member of the law school's criminal law faculty. He teaches Criminal Justice Administration (a.k.a. Introduction to Criminal Procedure) to 1L students. He is also the Co-Director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project (WIP), one of the criminal law clinical programs in the Frank J. Remington Center. Before becoming Co-Director of WIP, he supervised students in two other criminal law clinics, the Criminal Appeals Project and the Legal Assistance to Institutionalized Persons Project (LAIP).
Through his clinical work, Byron has worked on a wide variety of criminal cases in state and federal court. His WIP cases have involved post-conviction DNA testing, eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, unreliable forensic science evidence, false jailhouse snitch testimony, and ineffective assistance of counsel. His cases in CAP and LAIP involved juror bias, Miranda, the right to self-representation, faith healing, new science on juvenile brain development, and many other issues. He and his students have litigated numerous successful post-conviction motions and appeals.
Apart from casework, Byron has been involved in policy work focusing on the criminal justice system's ability to convict the guilty, and not the innocent. He staffed the Wisconsin Criminal Justice Study Commission, a Commission made up of well-respected criminal justice professionals from throughout the system, as well as community leaders from outside the system. The Commission's goal was to implement reforms that addressed the primary causes of wrongful convictions, such as eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, tunnel vision, and problems with forensic science.
Byron also assisted the Wisconsin Department of Justice in implementing its new model policies on eyewitness identification and electronic recording of interrogations. These model policies represented a comprehensive effort to address the causes of wrongful convictions in a manner that could be effectively implemented by law enforcement. The Remington Center's partnerships with law enforcement are a prime example of the "Wisconsin Idea," the principle that the University should serve all the citizens of Wisconsin, in part by working with others in government on projects of statewide importance.
Finally, Byron and his colleagues have drafted numerous amicus briefs to state and federal courts on issues such as admissibility standards for eyewitness evidence, electronic recording of interrogations, access to DNA testing, and other similar issues.
